Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands

Kavli Institute of Nanoscience at Delft University of Technology

The Kavli Institute of Nanoscience Delft, at the Delft University of Technology, Netherlands, explores the theoretical and practical frontiers of nanoscience, studying new physics and exploiting novel principles to develop new devices, materials and methods of fabrication. Established in 2004, the Institute explores the secret of protein nanomachinery in cells, the coupling of biological systems to solid state information processing, molecular electronics and quantum information processing. A new bionanoscience department focuses on the meeting point of biology and nanotechnology. The Institute draws on the research and facilities of the Department of Nanoscience in the Faculty of Applied Sciences at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands.

The electronic, magnetic and mechanical properties of molecules, assemblies of molecules and crystals of molecules.

Fabrication of nanostructures, either top-down through electron-beam lithography or bottom-up through self-assembly from atoms or molecules.

Advancing the technology of high-resolution electron microscopy for both study and fabrication.

Studying biomolecules in order to understand the “nanomachinery” of proteins in cells and biological systems

Developing new structures, such as nanopores and nanofluidic channels, to study biomolecules.

Creating new devices based on the physics of photonic (light) and electronic waves at the nanoscale.

Investigating spin transport -- how the interplay between spin and charge of electrons determines the behavior of semiconducting and superconducting materials and electronic devices.

Working toward quantum computing by understanding and controlling the quantum properties of structures such as superconducting rings, quantum dots, nanowires and carbon nanotubes.

The Institute also works closely with other nanoscience research groups, globally as well as in the Netherlands. In June 2007, it joined with the Kavli Institute for Nanoscience at Cornell to host the First Kavli Futures Symposium in Ilulissat, Greenland, where distinguished researchers in biology, materials science, physics and engineering met to assess the revolutionary potential of synthetic biology. Through the Department of Nanoscience at Delft, the Institute also collaborates with the Kluyver Laboratory for Biotechnology in Delft and with biologists, physicists, biophysicists and astronomers at Leiden University. Its nano-facility is a designated national facility, available to researchers from all over the Netherlands.